“The key to a happy life is to have accomplishments to be proud of and purpose to look forward to, and at the moment I had both. How wonderful it was to be me.”

"The Hippopotamus" http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/848.html

The Goldbug Variations, pg. 611

Variant: I wonder how many people I've looked at all my life and never seen.
Source: East of Eden

Letter of Faraday to Christian Friedrich Schönbein (19 September 1861); see also The Letters of Faraday and Schoenbein 1836-1862 (1899), edited by Georg W. A. Kahlbaum and Francis V. Darbishire, p. 349 http://www.archive.org/details/lettersoffaraday00fararich

Source: Wonder Boys

Statement at the funeral of Aristotle Onassis, as quoted in Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis : A Life (2000) by Donald Spoto.
Context: Aristotle Onassis rescued me at a moment when my life was engulfed with shadows. He brought me into a world where one could find both happiness and love. We lived through many beautiful experiences together which cannot be forgotten, and for which I will be eternally grateful.

The 21 Success Secrets of Self-made Millionaires (2001), Conclusion : Success Is Predictable, p. 64
Context: You have within you the potential to accomplish wonderful things with your life. Your greatest responsibilities are to dream big dreams, decide exactly what you want, make a plan to achieve it … take action every single day in the direction of your dreams and goals, and resolve to never, never, never give up. When you take these actions, you put yourself on the side of the angels. You become unstoppable and your success becomes inevitable.

Carrying the Elephant

Source: A Fistful of Charms